A Laramie man accused of plotting to kill a Cheyenne man with a pipe-bomb has been found guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Murder in the First Degree.

A jury of 12 persons found 40-year-old Ryan Brown guilty yesterday after less than two hours of deliberation.

Prosecutors said that Brown conspired with William Ferrill of Rock River and Eric Farrar of Cheyenne in a plan to kill a man who he thought had an affair with his wife. Police began investigating the conspiracy in later October after Brown’s teenage step-daughter reported the plot to her mother, who worked as a dispatcher for the Laramie Police Department.

Officials from the Laramie Police Department testified how they investigated the possible conspiracy and found an unfinished pipe bomb in Brown’s garage.

Brown admitted that he made the device, but said that the unfinished pipe bomb was made so he could break up rocks on a previous property.

The prosecution showed evidence of receipts for a spark plug used in the bomb dated for October 12, months after Brown said he had constructed the device.

Defense Attorney Vaughn Neubauer said that Brown never planned to hurt anyone. He said that Brown was hurt by his wife's affair and said things out of anger, but that he never participated in any kind of a murder conspiracy.

The jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning a guilty verdict.

Brown faces a minimum penalty of life imprisonment and could be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

The other alleged co-conspirators, William Ferrill and Eric Farrar, pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Manufacture an Improvised Explosive Device. Both men were originally charged with Conspiracy to Commit Murder in the First Degree. They will be sentenced in July.

Brown is currently being held at the Albany County Detention Center awaiting sentencing. His sentencing date has not been set.

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